View full post at: http://economystified.blogspot.com/2011/06/economystified-challenge.html
There's no doubt that throughout history, whenever nations have been
colonized, the original, indigenous cultures tend to get "crowded out"
over time. Facets of the colonizer's national identity gradually
become part of the national identity of the colonized, and colonizing
power's presence continues to echo on for generations after they
leave.
This is why still today much of Africa speaks French, contemporary
India has a Parliament, Latin America is predominantly Catholic, many
Australians start their days with tea and sausages, the Vietnamese use
Roman letters, and Americans like me write their blog posts in
English.
Nowadays it's flat out illegal – and probably would be considered a
bit uncouth – to annex another nation into ones own. But are the
national identities of the world's more marginalized countries still
threatened with extinction?
Are contemporary small nations still at risk for a sublte type of
cultural colonization, one in which a "bigger" national identity
gradually creeps its way into the another place's national psyche? I
can buy blue jeans and hear rock music in virtually every corner of
the world. But how many non-ethnic American teens can you find
listening to rai and drinking baijiu? Why does western pop culture
end up everywhere, but so many other cultures seem to get consistently
crowded off the international stage?
I'll tell you what I think in a minute, but first I want you to try
this little quiz. Trust me, I am going somewhere with this…
Continue reading at: http://economystified.blogspot.com/2011/06/economystified-challenge.html
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